Shower Escape
by oleanderedits
Summary: Until Glenn was out of college, they had to keep their activities secret from Glenn's family. (30DayOTP Prompt Challenge Day 22)


Daryl pulled himself off Glenn's mouth, pushing the man back with a hard shove as he gasped for breath. He was fully aware of how hot and bothered his boyfriend was and how difficult it would be to get him to calm the fuck down on short notice, but he really had to. Someone had slammed the door open and unless the door had been forced, it was one of two possibilities: Merle or someone in Glenn's family.

If it was Merle, Daryl would just curse him out for a minute before returning to Glenn's bedroom and their interrupted activities. Merle really didn't care who Daryl stuck his dick in. Merle didn't care who he stuck his own dick in. Judging Daryl for it would have been the epitome of hypocrisy. And while Merle was a lot of things, he wasn't usually hypocritical.

But if it was someone in Glenn's family, Daryl would need to get one of the cell phones, tell Merle not to come over, and then either hide in the bedroom or crawl out the window until they were gone. Glenn was supposed to be living alone, being the good college kid that might be slightly messy and invite his (college aged) friends over. Might even let those same (college aged) friends stay over and leave their stuff every so often. He was not supposed to have a semi-live in boyfriend twenty years his senior. And even if that were allowed, he certainly shouldn't have one from redneck country.

Daryl put a finger to his lips as the footsteps stopped and the door was shut again, followed by a very feminine voice calling out for Glenn. The kid cringed and groaned, rolled over off the bed as he scrambled to get his clothes in order while he yelled back, "Be there in a minute, Mom!"

He turned around to mouth an 'I'm sorry' while Daryl pulled his pants up and started searching for his boots. Daryl returned it with a shrug. He didn't like having to hide what the two of them were to each other, but Glenn's father would stop paying the rent if he thought for a second Glenn was fucking another man. Daryl knew this first hand because he'd actually met the man once. He'd been 'home' when Glenn was out and his father walked in like he owned the place. He'd had to lie about why he was there. Told him he was one of the building maintenance men just checking on a plumbing complaint. He'd only managed to get that one to fly because he had been under the sink working on the disposal unit. Which Glenn had clogged two weeks prior and never got around to saying anything to anyone.

Glenn's dad had made it very clear he didn't like strange men hanging around Glenn's apartment. He didn't even approve of Daryl being there for a supposed service. Glenn had told him later that his dad caught him making out with a guy when he was fourteen at an unsupervised party that was serving alcohol. Ever since then he'd been keeping a close eye on him to make sure he didn't make a 'drunken mistake' again. Until Glenn was out of college, they had to keep their activities secret from Glenn's family.

Daryl didn't much like it, but it wasn't as though Daryl didn't have his own secrets. Glenn wasn't about to go meet his father and he wasn't about to tell Glenn that was who had given him the scars crisscrossing his back. Glenn hadn't pushed when it came up and Daryl didn't object to ducking out on the fire escape every so often. They had an understanding. Inconvenient, problematic, but an understanding none the less.

 _("The day you tell your parents about us, is the day I tell you about these." "Deal.")_

He got his boots on and tied, his jacket on, and the window open when he stopped because one of Glenn's sisters was out there on the ground, looking up.

"Glenn? That you?" She called, squinting against the sun and putting her hand over her eyes.

Daryl ducked back inside before she could see him and sent Glenn a panicked look. Glenn gestured toward the master bath and hurried over to the window. He stuck his head out and waved, "Yeah! Just airing out the bedroom. Mom walked in without warning."

"You're lucky dad isn't here," she laughed as Daryl got the door shut behind him and stepped into the tub, pulling the shower curtain half-way closed. Not far enough to cover the whole thing, which would be practically inviting someone to look behind it, but just far enough that if he hunkered down on his heels he wouldn't be seen. And he wouldn't be able to see out, either. He'd cast no shadows and he could just sit out the visit until Glenn gave him the all clear to get out the window or get back in the bed. Though with both his mom and at least one of his sisters, it would probably be the former.

He pulled his cell phone out and turned the volume all the way down before sending a quick text to Merle, ' _Korean royalty._ '

' _Rooster in the hen house?_ ' Merle sent back and Daryl could practically hear his laughter in his head.

He forced himself not to grumble or sigh as he sent another, ' _Just stay away for the night._ '

' _That bad huh. Where you at?_ '

' _Shower. Waiting it out. Princess was under the balcony. Queen's in the kitchen._ '

' _Least you can keep yourself clean. Let me know if you need an extraction._ '

Daryl sent back a final ' _will do_ ' and put his phone away while he shut his eyes and focused on trying to hear what he could through the walls. There wasn't a lot. The distance more than insulation hid the conversations from him. At least until the voices came into the bedroom.

"Your room is always such a mess," Glenn's mother fussed as she usually did, ignoring Glenn's pleas for her to leave it alone. That he was fine and he'd clean it later. She shuffled around and even peeked her head into the bathroom. Fortunately Glenn tended to keep the toilet area free of dirty laundry and she had nothing to pick up and no reason to glance behind the curtain. She did, however, leave the door open.

Glenn's sister must have followed them in because he heard her loud and clear, "That truck's back. The beat up blue one."

"So?" Glenn attempted to make it sound like it didn't matter.

"Soooo~" She drew out in a teasing voice. "It means the handyman is on shift. The cute skinny one, not the old fat one. He drives an RV."

Daryl could almost hear the eye roll behind Glenn's reply, "I don't see why you care. Dad's not going to let you talk to him anymore than he'd let me. He's way too old."

"Doesn't mean I can't look," she said and the two of them were shushed by their mother. Told to stop talking like that. Something along the lines of it not being proper. Daryl had long since gotten the impression the woman didn't really care who her children ended up with as long as they were happy, but that she wasn't going to undermine her husband's authority. Which meant she wasn't going to encourage anything.

"Come on," Glenn said, voice close to the bathroom, "Let's go help mom do my laundry so she'll stop fussing. Then we can head out for dinner."

Daryl shut his eyes and finally dared to breath a sigh of relief. As soon as the door shut (loudly) he climbed out of the tub and snuck his way through the apartment to make sure the coast was clear. When it was, he moved to the windows and waited for Glenn to walk his mom and sister out the front of the building to their car. It was only after they'd driven off and he'd given them another ten minutes that he let himself out of the apartment, locked up, and left to meet Merle at a bar. He'd have to wait for the all clear from Glenn before making his way back.

"I don't know how you put up with it," Merle complained, not for the first time. "Kid must have the best tail you ever chased to be worth all that bull shit."

Daryl shrugged and threw back the last of his bottle, "It's only another year 'fore he graduates. Then we ain't gotta worry."

"You really think you can put up with it for another year?"

"Already put up with it for two. Face it, brother," Daryl smirked and waved for another bottle. "We're past the point of being in it for the long haul. Pretty soon you're gonna have to pick out a suit."

Merle made a face, but lifted his beer to clink it against Daryl's in a woeful salute, "Just so long as you understand I ain't giving you away, Darleena. I don't need that kinda responsibility."


End file.
